University of Midgar pt 1
by Barren Rose
Summary: Tifa has moved from Kalm to attend the acclaimed University of Midgar for Art. Shes cast into a new world that she has little understanding about but she manages to find her way through. Cloud is a reluctant star baseball player and hates it there.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the rights to any of the Final Fantasy VII characters or any Final Fantasy characters in general. Square Enix and VII's creators Yoshinoti Kitase, Tetsuya Nomura, Hironobu Sakaguchi do, thank you.

_Note_: These characters are all in college so a lot of the styles and what not will be similar to our own with some similarities to FF7AC and even with Japanese fashion.

**Chapter 1**: No Surprises

When she looked into the mirror she saw a nineteen-year-old girl who was, in many ways, lost. New town, new people, new life; all thanks to that new job Barret got to support her and her little brother Denzel. She was still beautiful of course with her dark brown hair down to the middle of her back with all the other facial features she garnered. She dressed well in a navy blue tunic (modern tunic) with a black belt over it at her waist and dark blue jeans with black boots. Since it was winter, she wore a black coat and white scarf as well. Even though she was dressed well, she lacked confidence in herself. She got into the prestigious Midgar University for art, but still, she had doubts about her ability.

"TIFA!!!" Shouted a deep voice in the distance in obvious frustration. That caused her snap her head away from the mirror and deep thought.

"What?!"

"You're gonna be late for your first class! Hurry up!"

In a hurry, Tifa grabbed her things then rushed down the stairs into the kitchen where Denzel sat at the table enjoying a full breakfast. As he enjoyed his bacon, eggs, biscuits and hashbrowns, Tifa reached into the cabinet and grabbed a cereal bar. Quite the tasty meal Denzel had in comparison to herself, and she knew it. Munching down on the bar she pulled a water bottle out of the fridge and began drinking that in a rush as well.

"Tifa, your breakfast looks pretty damn good." Denzel sarcastically comment before he started eating his bacon.

Tifa looked at him as she drunk the water and shook her head slowly. Once she had her fill, she slipped the bottle into her satchel then smacked Denzel lightly in the back of the head. "Hey, you aren't supposed to be talking like that." She replied ruffling his hair. "Besides, its best you eat a good breakfast anyway. You are still growing." She kissed his forehead gently then walked off finishing the cereal bar.

When she got to the door Barret waited for her and blocked the way; he tilted his head to the side and asked, "Do you have all your things?"

"Yeah…"

"Your I.D. card…?"

"Yeah…"

"Your map…?"

"Yes…"

"Your writing materials?

"Yes, Barret…I have everything I need."

"Good, just take 3rd train and you'll get right to the University. You be careful alright, I promised your dad I'd make sure you didn't get hurt." He said sincerely as he stepped away from the door to let her by. Now, Tifa was allowed to get through and allowed to go out and experience a new world.

The city passed by in a flash, bits and pieces slowed down in view—the large Shinra Corp. building was one and the many reactors. Everything moved much faster than what she was accustomed to in her home of Kalm. The people were in such a rush to get work done and to get paid it seemed as if they didn't really enjoy life as much. However, Tifa knew that those thoughts were just assumptions; she didn't have a real ideal of what this city would have in store.

When Tifa's stop came along not that many people had entered the train with her, it was sparsely populated and there were plenty of seats available. That all changed when the next stop came, a flurry of people rushed in taking all the seats from one another. They pushed and shoved one another to get the best spot they possibly could. One of these people, an artsy looking girl, managed to sneak her way into getting the seat near Tifa. She wore a tan colored coat with an orange scarf around her neck and yellow turtleneck along with blue jeans and boots. Once she was settled, she looked at Tifa and smiled gently greeting her with, "Hello, I'm Rikku. It's nice to meet you."

Tifa smiled somewhat nervously in return and replied, "Hi, I'm Tifa."

In the ensuing conversation, Tifa found out that Rikku, like herself, was an art major specifically in the field of photography. That became fodder for conversation for the two of them. They joked and laughed about the train and the people that were on—which were mostly university students. Rikku asked about how she felt about her first few days in Midgard and Tifa responded with mixed views mainly dude to that fact that she didn't know that many people here. When the train arrived at the university they both exited together.

Tifa paused to stare at the large gothic structures of the universities older buildings before she followed Rikku to the art building. On the way there, she noticed a string of buildings around the large fountain in the middle of campus. They all had large gargoyles perched on the edges of the roofs, large oak doors with stone siding. It looked like a castle in her eyes since it was all so very majestic. In a way, it made Tifa feel that she was in over her head when it came to where she was going.

The art building was one of the newer ones; it had bright lights and a modern architectural frame to it. Most buildings on the upper east end of Midgard University were new and shrouded in a beautiful landscape of trees and flowerbeds. This side of school was beautiful, peaceful, and completely calming for Tifa.

"So…" Rikku said as she spun around to look at Tifa who stared at the building because of the large mural that was drawn on the side of it. Rikku laughed and placed her hands on her hips then shouted, "Tifa!"

Tifa jumped slightly then looked back to Rikku. Her brow rose slightly and a smile slipped onto her face. "Yeah?"

"So, you think you're ready?" Rikku asked still with a smile on her face.

"I think I'll be fine, it shouldn't be too hard…its only the first day of my first semester here." Tifa shrugged then looked back to the mural. "Yeah, I think I'm going to like this place."

"You better, it's the best university in the world for us artist. Us, and the annoying rich kids whose daddy's can buy them a degree, right?" Rikku grinned leaning forward toward Tifa who leaned back away from her.

"I haven't meet them yet, but I wouldn't be surprised to find them around a place like this." She responded.

"Ah yes, well, theres a few…you know, bitches around here. I try to avoid them but it seems like, even though theres twenty thousand students here, you can't seem to do anything but run into them." Rikku shrugged then looked to her watch on her wrist before looking back up to Tifa and sighing. "You have my number, if you need anything just give me a call. Remember its on the second floor and its to the right, you can't miss it."

With that, they parted ways and Tifa was walking up the stairs to the second floor of the building. The inside was just as beautiful as the outside of the building. Student and alumni's artwork garnished the long hallways and since this was the best art school, many of the alumni's were famous renowned artist. From paintings to sculptures, they all lined the halls in a myriad of wonderful colors and moods. When she made it to her class, other students stood outside near the door smoking and chatting along about things she didn't wish to comprehend. Also, when she passed by to enter the class the man and woman stared at her as they watched her go by to enter the room.

Inside the large studio gallery, there were no seats available, all the canvas holders and art horses were taken except for the one in the far corner near a young man who, in Tifa's eyes, was very attractive. When she sat by him, she didn't look at him; she just stared at the drawing board infront of her waiting for the instructor to begin class. The instructor was obviously an older artist that had been in the business for quite sometime.

He wore a black French style military frock coat with a crimson blouse underneath along with black pants and boots. His hair was a beautiful long silky black, which made him appear to be vampiric in a way; he had color in his skin but it was faint. This young man glanced at Tifa thinking that she was another one of those girls that enjoyed chasing him. However, unlike the others, she didn't stare at him or annoy him in any way. She minded her own business, which was nice in his mind.

When class began, the students had settled and the instructor stood in the middle of the class watching them all. "Ok students, I want all of you to take out a pen…"

Immediantly when the instructor said to take out a pen, she lifted the satchel she had in her lap and began shifting through it for a pen. Books, paper, I.D., more paper, all of those things were found but she couldn't find a single thing to write with in her bag. Also, she didn't know anyone around so she could just ask; Tifa was too shy to ask the attractive man by her side. Then, she felt something tap her forearm and when she looked, it was a pen. The young attractive man held it out to her.

"T-thank you." She said as she took the pen and paper and began writing her personal information on it for the teacher. Tifa didn't dare to look at him too long, especially with those red eyes of his. It was somewhat frightening but still attractive.

"Vincent."

"Huh?" Tifa looked at him confused.

"My name is Vincent."

A smile slowly appeared on her face. "Tifa, its nice to meet you."

After class, Tifa and Vincent left the room together walking to head to their next class that was in the same building. Tifa became more comfortable with him and even laughed when the random girls all stopped and giggled to look at her tall attractive friend.

"You have a lot of fans." Tifa said jokingly as they passed another bunch.

"Yeah…" Vincent mumbled before continuing to say. "Unfortunately for them, I'm a taken man and I intend on staying that way."

"Really?" She was surprised to hear this somewhat. Why wouldn't he be taken after all?

"Yes, she's a science major at Nibelhiem College." He replied somewhat sullenly.

"So you're not from here…just like me."

They went to the next class together and there they went through the typical first day of class routine. The instructor handed them their syllabus then told them to leave. Their day was short and sweet as they both got a chance to know eachother in this new university for Tifa. Once the day was done, Vincent and Tifa parted their ways with numbers exchanged and a new friendship begun. On Tifa's ride back, Rikku was there to keep her company. She wasn't alone, and she had nothing to worry about. Everything was fine and she felt like she belonged.

_Next Chapter_: Lone Wolf

Its Cloud's turn to be introduced into the University of Midgard and hes in a situation you really wouldn't see him in often.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the rights to any of the Final Fantasy VII characters or any Final Fantasy characters in general. Square Enix and VII's creators Yoshinoti Kitase, Tetsuya Nomura, Hironobu Sakaguchi do, thank you.

**Episode 2**: Lone Wolf

His grip was firm yet comfortable enough to allow him to swing freely when the ball came his way. He'd move as one, the arms would pull across his chest as his body turned to release the perfect and beautiful swing that was required to be as good as he was. When the ball hit the sweet spot of his weapon…his bat…it would blast off, like a rocket ship reaching toward the stars before falling back to earth to the fans that awaited in jubilation for its return. Cloud was the star player of his baseball team; though, he was also an odd star for that fact. He stood at the batting cage in complete focus as he took each beautiful swing—all of which connected to their target. He was always in a zone when he was up there; it was his release from the world. It was his way being free when he wasn't on his motorcycle driving along the long turning roads of the country highways. It was one of the most important aspects of his life, and it fueled his competitive drive.

Outside of Cloud's tunnel vision focus however where the others, they all stood around the batting cage joking, laughing, spitting, and just being men. It was normal for Cloud to be so good thus, they took it in stride and no longer watched him in amazement as he did one of the things he does best. Now, the group consisting of Reno, Rude, and Zack, stared at the group of young ladies who sat in the seats about their dugout. Those girls were part of an elite group around the university, the rich kids. All of them had a certain prestige that was brought along from the family history they owned along with the money. Yuna was the daughter of a former pirate, Balthier, who struck it big when he found an old Shinra relic in the vast ocean. He was now courting a beautiful Vieran woman named Fran since their mother passed a long while ago that however, that information for a later time. Rinoa was the daughter of a politician that held a high position in the city of Midgar but he also owned a large number of resorts in Costa Del Sol which kept revenue constantly rolling in for his family. The leader of this group was, of course, Aeris. She was the daughter of a scientist that discovered the crater north of her hometown Icicle. Shinra bought the information about the crater from her father for a vast amount of money that guaranteed that life would be much easier for them for a very long time. Speaking of which, another member of this elite group was Rufus Shinra, the man next in charge to take over the large corporation; his wealth was self-explanatory.

Reno was the first to act on the situation; he separated himself from the group to approach them near the dugout. They all watched him, the girls exchanged giggles mostly out of embarrassment for the guy; they knew what he was going to do. When he leaned against the railing and focused his gaze on Rinoa he smiled which caused them all to break out in laughter…all of them except for Rinoa. "Look, Rinoa, I know you and Squall broke up about a month ago. How are you feeling since then?" Reno asked through all the laughter, now even his group of friends behind him chuckled. Cloud was still in his own world. Rufus was disconnected from the bunch as he focused on Cloud, a man who he wanted to put on his father's baseball team when the time came.

"Um, I'm doing pretty ok I suppose." She answered calmly though she was filled up with embarrassment. It would be best if she hide it, that way, they wouldn't bug her about it for the rest of the day.

"Oh…well, you know theres a party happening tonight and I wanted to know if you and your friends were coming?" His voice was sincere, which was odd for Reno normally he'd be blatant and say that he wanted her in bed but not now.

"Well, it really depends on if I have the time Reno. I'm sorry but I'm not certain if I'd be able to show up." Rinoa finished, leaving Reno to sigh loudly and give them a slight wave goodbye as he returned to his group of guys.

The laughs had subsided now in order to hear the conversation. Aeris was no longer concerned with those two since it would never work out. Instead her eyes traveled back and forth between Zack, who was shaking his head at Reno and saying something she couldn't comprehend, and Cloud, who never gave attention to any girl around him while in baseball practice though, in the past, Aeris and he did have history. That history however was very unfulfilling, nothing really came from it other than that one night were she managed to get a buzzed Cloud Strife to kiss her. It was only one night and she knew it meant absolutely nothing to him. His life was too free to be joined together with the group of friends she had. He wanted nothing to do with the expensive clothes and posh lifestyle they had all lived. Even with all of that known to her, she couldn't help but admire him yet she knew it would have to stop.

It wasn't long before Cid Highwind burst out of the dug out screaming at all of his players to stop messing around and get to doing the jogging laps around the field to finish practice for the day. That's when Zack noticed Aeris watching Cloud. He sighed deeply and sped up his pace to catch up with his friend who was jogging at a steady pace ahead of him, "Hey."

Cloud didn't bother looking at Zack as he responded, "Zack."

"When are you finally going to get that girlfriend for the other ones can back off on you? I mean, they all know that you're a douche when it comes to relationships but they still can't get over you."

Cloud didn't answer immediately; he found the question to be a bit annoying, "You know, the only girl that is like that with me is Aeris. The others know how I am and I'm sorry but I'm not changing for a girl."

"Damnit Cloud, your gonna want somebody eventually and I know you are. You are human and you will get lonely at some time." Zack blurted in frustration at him. Cloud had been like this for a long while and it was just now starting to get to him. Zack liked Aeris a lot but she wasn't able to completely commit to him just because Cloud was the prized possession in the 'love' triangle between them…a very lopsided love triangle with the disinterested Cloud Strife stuck in it.

"From the way you people make it seem, I can get any woman I wanted if I tried. Where is the thrill in that?" Cloud commented nonchalantly.

"Not any woman… just any of those girls in the clique back there. Alright, fine…fine." Zack went silent for a moment keeping his pace with Cloud easily. His mind was turning about what he could do to get Cloud a girl and to give him a clean clear path with Aeris without anyone around or in the way. "Didn't Fenrir break down the other day?"

"…Yeah." Cloud's voice showed some concern about what was going on in his mind. "I ran into some…trouble on the way back to Midgar. A few beast ripped a huge chunk of it off, so I'm taking the train back and forth."

"How long do you think you'll be without Fenrir?"

"Um, well…I went to the auto shop and from what they told me, it would take me about four months to pay them off. Cause Fenrir is completely customized—you remember how much I saved up for that. Why are you asking this?" He was slowing down his jog now since they were almost done.

"If you can pick up a girl—a hot girl, she has to be sexy ok, no ugly chicks—and have her actually like you, maybe even love you then I'll pay for the repairs." Zack said slowing down to a stop infront of their dugout. Cloud did the same but he turned around quickly to look at Zack with a confused look on his face.

"What!" He uttered in confusion. "Look, I think it would be pretty damn easy to get a girl to like me…it's a matter of me liking them enough alright! I like the way I am! You—don"

"For now, you like how you are for now. With your bike gone, you'll be around us more…we all have someone other than you. Your gonna hear about our relationships, see our relationships, eat and drink our relationships since you don't have anywhere to run."

"Yeah…whatever man."

It was just as Zack said, he spent nights with them at parties and all of his friends had someone except for him; even Reno had someone. However the most taxing and annoying moment came when he was in his dorm. On that day, Cloud walked into his room expecting to hear the sweet morose sounds of the acoustic guitar his roommate played. Instead he was hit with sound of giggles and rustling as the roommate and what seemed to be another person shuffled around franticly. "Wait, Cloud!" he heard his roommate call out to him. Cloud froze then sighed looking to the side and out the window at the building across the street from them.

"Sorry about that Cloud." The velvet voice said, soon the person was revealed once he came around the corner. It was Vincent who was only wearing pajama pants and had a large grin on his face as he stood in the doorway. "Um, she isn't dressed yet."

"Yea…I'll just leave if you guys want to um." Cloud pointed back to the door feeling a bit uneasy about the whole situation. It was Vincent who stood infront of him, not the other guys but a man who was normally quiet about his relationship unless something bothered him. Now he stood infront of after obviously having a bit of fun in the bed with his love.

"I'm dressed!" The girl announced. Vincent shrugged then turned around to enter the room with Cloud following. He waved lightly at Lucrecia before taking off his black coat to drop it on his bed; he paused and looked at Vincent who watched him.

"Oh no, we didn't do anything on your bed." Vincent chuckled after saying that; he and Cloud had joked about that last night and Vincent must have convinced him otherwise.

Cloud dropped the coat on the bed afterward then fixed the collar on his black blouse in order to pull put the silver chain with the wolf pendant on it. He then plopped back onto his bed and stared at the ceiling above him. There, he had a series of pictures of him and his mom standing infront of his home in Nibelhiem. They were both so happy with one another and now he couldn't ride down there and visit her on occasion because his bike was in the dumps. He shoved a hand into the pocket of his very dark blue loose fitting jeans to pull out his wallet and other papers that he had there. After that he closed his eyes and tried to go to sleep even though near him, over the desk that separated their room into two parts, he could hear the soft moans and giggles in the bed near him. He turned on his side to face the wall and put a pillow over his head but in his mind, he couldn't help but feel a bit lonely. Cloud actually wanted to have a companion that he could potentially be somewhat close with but he wanted someone who could understand who he was.

The next morning Cloud was out of bed and heading to class with Zack who had just met up with him. "Alright." Cloud announced lightly.

"What?"

"I'll take you in on that offer."

"What! Are you serious?" Zack said enthused.

Cloud paused and looked at Zack who watched him with joy-filled eyes. "…Yeah."

"Fucking amazing! Alright, I'm gonna give you until the dance the fraternity is throwing happens…so that's two months. Find a girl…a hot girl…and have her come with you. However Cloud, don't just pick up anyone…make sure its someone you like ya know?"

"Yeah, I know…I know." With that, Cloud and an overly happy Zack headed to class together. Cloud wasn't certain about what he was getting himself into be he couldn't help be intrigued by it too. It may actually end up being pretty fun and maybe he would actually find someone who could cope with his distant personality.

**Next Episode 3**: The World is Waiting

_Tifa has been at the school for about two weeks now and she's adapting well to the place. Cloud and his gang have their first exhibition game and Rufus approaches Cloud about a chance to play for the Shinra owned baseball team_.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the rights to any of the Final Fantasy VII characters or any Final Fantasy characters in general. Square Enix and VII's creators Yoshinoti Kitase, Tetsuya Nomura, Hironobu Sakaguchi do, thank you.

**Episode 3**: _The World Is Waiting_

"Very good work miss Lockheart, I'm impressed with the work you've done. It's quite the challenge to portray a Nibelheim night sky as realistically as you have just done." Her instructor said as he stood over her shoulder to look at the beautifully painted canvas in front of the two of them. Its mix of dark blues and light blues, show hints of black, the carefully planned out whites for the stars seemed to actually glisten in the darker color, and the seamless hint of the town of Nibelheim in the background all dressed the canvas beautifully. It was exactly as her mind had remembered it back when she lived with her mom and dad when she was little, and it was only for a short time. It was only for three months before her father's contract was finished and they had to move on to a new town. The people she came across were all very nice and kind, the children were friendly to her for the most part—though she does remember the crude behavior they showed to one boy there—and the way of life was always pleasant in Nibelheim. No wonder why Vincent was always so calm and contempt with everything, no wonder he took everything in stride for instance, the instructor was having a hard time understanding his painting.

In comparison to Tifa's painting, the basic layout for Vincent's was…abstract. There were no obvious figures to it, just a completely black canvas with a small splatter of orange paint in the top right corner; Vincent called it 'A Mockery'. Perhaps he was serious about the name, maybe it was his way of mocking his instructors own art work—the instructor normally did work in such a way. "Mister Valentine," The instructor croaked as he jerked his head away from the canvas to look at Vincent who, sat in his stool with his eyes closed…almost as if he were meditating. "What is this?" He continued, "What have you conjured up from the depths of your mind and placed upon this valley of darkness."

Tifa's ears twitched at the sound of his way to describe the black background on the canvas as a 'valley of darkness'. It was almost as if she expected the man to say such a thing because he was so scholarly for an art teacher. She was used to the bohemians from her past college and high school as instructors but this man was something far more regal. A Victorian stuck in a world filled with hippies and beatniks, and rich kids whose parents forced them to take up art in an effort to get them to do something productive. Either way, Tifa couldn't help but laugh at the comment; her laugh blurted out from her normal silent routine then quickly silenced when the instructor looked at her.

He was on his way to letting her hear an earful about how he found that to be a bit rude but finally, Vincent spoke, "This is, my image of how I think some people can portray works like this. They look at it and think…'What is this? It's just a black paint with an orange splatter on it…and people call that art'." Vincent opened his eyes and looked at his instructor as he said, "Well Instructor Monroe, that is exactly what this painting is…black paint with a splatter of orange on it, nothing more, nothing less, nothing in between."

"Ah, I see…well brilliant young Valentine." Monroe replied before moving onto the next student beside him.

"That was, artistic Mr. Valentine." Tifa joked as she put her materials up in their bags.

"Well, I couldn't think of any other way." Vincent replied simply as he did the same as her.

It wasn't long before they were walking down the long stairway with Rikku now a part of their group. It was still cold outside so they were all bundled up in their coats and scarves and winter hats to battle against the weather. "So what are we doing today? I don't remember." Rikku asked in a perplexed tone, she rarely knew what was going on. Her mind tended to travel off into her deep imagination that was nothing more than a bundle of confusing creatures and landscapes.

"Well, I'm hungry." Tifa replied, this was a fairly typical response for her as well. Not the fact that she was hungry—she's not a slob and wants to eat every moment—instead of simple it was and straight to the point. She tried not to dwell too far off topic with her words and she only picked them carefully when trying to deal with someone who was rather difficult to understand.

"Ohhhh, I know a place, let's go to Odin's." Rikku exclaimed as she ran out in front of them. There was no turning back now, Rikku was already leading the way and Tifa and Vincent didn't care to enough to challenge the choice.

Odin's was a popular place with the students at all of the universities in Midgar. There was the much needed karaoke machine stations, the large televisions tuned into the cities sports, the bustling bar where people young and old came to have a goodtime. Many of the schools professors hung out there, many politicians, and even fragments of Shinra's undercover agency (The Turks) were said to frequent the place. However, the people didn't just come for a good time, the food was superb as well. They served a variety of meals there from typical Japanese cuisine to American favorites. It was a the place to be in Midgar and it was cheap.

Tifa and her group of buddies managed to get a booth at the far end of the restaurant away from the festivities that were occurring on the other side of the building past the bar. The baseball team from their university was celebrating a pre-game feast; they were about to begin the exhibition season before the actual one began. All the players, including Cloud were there enjoying their meal and drinks and making quite the noise. Reno could be heard screaming at the top of his lungs about a woman's boob he saw the other day.

"Is it normally this busy?" Tifa asked rubbing her ears a bit from the noise.

Rikku, who sat by her side in the booth, patted her on the back saying, "Yeah, but the baseball team is here today so it's a bit noisier than it would be on a normal Wednesday night."

"My roommate is on the team." Vincent added. He was utterly bored and it could be seen in his body language. His arms hung over the top of the seat and his eyes made it seem as if her were sleepy. The food hadn't arrived and he couldn't exactly hear anything the girls were saying to him.

"Yeah Cloud, he's supposed to be the best player on the team. The Shinra Weapons are already trying to sign him to a major league deal. Apparently he won't join though…" Rikku informed Tifa.

"Why not?" Tifa asked.

"Well, he's not sure if he wants to do it for a living. Though in my opinion, I don't think he knows what he wants to do with his life at all. He actually talked about joining the military for a bit last month…he wanted to be a SOLDIER." Vincent shrugged afterward and continued to say, "I think he needs to find someone who can just show him some kind of path. He thinks he's free but really he's a prisoner to his own indecision."

"He sounds kinda sad," Tifa replied as she looked over toward that table in the distance. She could see everyone there as they sat and enjoyed there meal. Most of them were excited and having an obvious good time except for one, the blond with spiky hair. "Let me guess, the crazy-haired blond is him?" She added.

Vincent didn't even have to look over there, he knew it had to be him, "Yeah, that's him."

"Do you two get along?"

"Yeah we do."

"You know, Cloud is pretty hot." Rikku randomly added as she stared at their table.

"…Rikku, why don't you just go over there and introduce yourself then?" Tifa joked.

"I think I will." Rikku jumped from her seat and began on her way toward their table but stopped when she heard Vincent's voice.

"Are you sure you are ok with doing what you are about to do? It could be a mistake…I know Cloud and he doesn't take well to women approaching him like that."

Rikku froze and turned to face them again with a perplexed look on her face, "Fine, come with me Vincent."

"And say what?" He replied quickly.

"Um, say…say that you saw him and wanted to say hi or something…" She shrugged but in defeat she began on her way back to their booth.

"Its ok Rikku, the guy doesn't look that interesting anyway…you should probably find other artist to date, not attractive jocks." Tifa said as Rikku sat down.

It wasn't long before their food was on the table for them to enjoy. Vincent and Tifa both had shrimp tempura while Rikku enjoyed a large burger with a side of fries to go along with it. They were enjoying their time together but Tifa found it relatively suspicious that Vincent hadn't mentioned the time he had with Lucrecia last week. "Vincent, it's nice to have you back with us after last week."

He grinned briefly before eating some of his food to stall time for him before he answered anything. Once he finished chewing he looked at Tifa and Rikku, who waited in anticipation, and said, "It was nice to be with her again."

"And…" Rikku blurted.

"We did what loving couples do…" He wasn't embarrassed by saying this but it was interesting to watch the girls beam with anticipation.

"Was Cloud there while it happened?" Rikku added.

Vincent nodded and immediately afterward Rikku shouted, "Oh my god! Vincent! Wow…someone must have been a horny bastard last week."

Tifa covered her mouth as she laughed at Rikku's reaction to the situation. Vincent only shook his head and answered, "I made sure he was sleeping!"

When they finished their food they all stood to leave the restaurant and head out to their homes for the day. As they were leaving the baseball team was as well. This made it easy for Cloud to notice Vincent and his group of friends. "Vincent."

"Cloud"

Cloud looked at the two young women and nodded to them both before returning his attention to Vincent again, "Are you heading back to the dorm?"

"Yeah I'm going to walk them to the train station then go back to our place."

"I guess I'll come along if that's ok."

"Sure, it is." Vincent looked to Tifa and Rikku. "Is it?"

Tifa and Rikku both stared at Cloud for a good moment before they both replied, "Ok."

It was cold outside so the two girls bunch themselves close to Vincent in order to keep warm. Cloud kept close but he wasn't touching any of them he didn't think he knew those two well enough to do anything like that. Also, he didn't think it was cold enough for him to resort to such action. It would be spring in a few weeks and that also meant he only had a month until he had to find a girl to be with for the bet. He wasn't sure of what he'd do.

"Cloud." Vincent called out for the fifth time to finally snap Cloud out of his trance.

"Yeah?"

"How are you going to have an exhibition game in this weather?" Vincent asked, he was one of the few none-baseball friends who actually cared about the sport and how Cloud felt about the game.

"Well, as long as there's not a blizzard or raining we can play…it'll suck but we'll play." Cloud sighed after those words and placed his hands into his pockets. "Oh well, I've been doing this for a long time."

"Do you enjoy it?" Tifa asked him.

Her voice was new to Cloud's ears, soothing compared to Rikku's harsh vibrato; when he turned to look at her, see was pleasing to his eyes as well. That was the first time he actually took the time to look at her while with the group and he wasn't sure why. It was normally for him to just never paid attention to any of Vincent's girls. "Well, I think I do…I know I use to but it seems like the fun is gone. It's turned into a battle were I'm only looking for the kill. Not the game I played with friends."

Tifa watched him carefully as he told them that; she couldn't help but sense the sadness in his voice and face as he looked away. There was something bothering this young attractive man and she couldn't put her finger on it—because she didn't know him well enough—but it was in her nature to want to help people. He'd captivated her enough to want to get to know him better but it was too late for the night. Before she knew it, she was at the train station giving her parting hug to Vincent and a firm handshake to Cloud after that, she was gone back home.

It was the afternoon in the cool sunlight and cold chilling wind on the Midgar University Highwind's Field. The baseball game was in the top of the 9th inning and the Highwinds were leading by a run with only one out left in order to claim victory. They had their great closer on the mound and of course, it was Cloud Strife. Not only was their wonderful hitting third baseman, who also was wonderful defensively, he was also the best closer the school had ever had. All he had to do was get this last batter out and he only needed to throw his best stuff to do so.

He took his step onto the mound and bore down at the catcher as he used his fingers to show pitch selection: one finger, fastball; two fingers, curveball; three fingers, slider. Finally they settled on the fastball to the outside bottom corner of the strike zone. Cloud got into his wind up position with his eyes still focused on the catcher's mitt, and then suddenly his body reared up and launched the ball from his hands onto the target set forth.

"STRIKE ONE!" The umpire called out enthusiastically.

Cloud and the catcher repeated the process over again: bare down, pitch selection, delivery. This time however, the pitch was a curveball that swooped into the strike zone in the inside part of the plate.

"STRIKE TWO"

Finally it was almost time to end this long game, and once again they repeated their routine. The pitch, a slider, slid toward the plate and fell under the swing bat of the opponent to strike him out.

"STRIKE THREE, BALL GAME OVER, HIGHWINDS WIN!"

The catcher ran up to Cloud after taking of his mask to reveal himself as Zack; he handed Cloud the ball and patted him on the back. Instead of giving him the normal congratulations, Zack said, "Found her yet?"

Once again, Cloud was pulled out of his competitive spirit and brought back to the pointless pressures of the normal world. The normal pressures giving from all his baseball buds about the women and the parties and the other trifling things (in Cloud's mind) they brought upon him. It didn't get any better after he left the stadium either; he was approach by Rufus and a group of his agents.

"Cloud." Rufus said in his normal ass tight professional voice.

"No, I'm not signing any contracts with you guys." Cloud's answer was quick and to the point; he'd been asked so many times before it became second nature for him to say no to everything Rufus asked him.

"Well, there's more to this proposition…" Rufus continued, "You see, we can offer you a chance to meet the great Sephiroth and become his disciple. You see, The Shinra Weapons will need a new star player and with Sephiroth contemplating retirement in five seasons we must put you in now to build up hype. You know, it'll bring in more money."

"I don't want to play baseball for you Rufus, it doesn't matter what you do. I'm not playing for you!" He was getting impatient with this charade, each time they would try to up the offer and each time it didn't appeal to Cloud.

"We'll fix your bike too."

Cloud paused briefly before continuing on his way; Rufus knew he thought about it and could potentially take the deal. With that thought on his mind he stopped following Cloud and waited until he was out of sight. Rufus then turned to his two agents and gave them high-fives shouting, "Fuck yeah! Boys, we got ourselves a baseball player!"

* * *

**Episode 4**: Changes

_ Now Cloud needs to make up his mind; he has so many offers on the table and so many decisions to make. __Either he can take fame and__ fortune and his bike back or he can stay were his friend's are and finish the bet he made with Zack. For anyone else it would be an easy choice but for Cloud, both of the choices annoy him monumentally.__ He needs something or someone (other than Vincent__ to get his mind off of these things…all of those things. Things Cloud only wants separate __himself from._


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the rights to any of the Final Fantasy VII characters or any Final Fantasy characters in general. Square Enix and VII's creators Yoshinoti Kitase, Tetsuya Nomura, Hironobu Sakaguchi do, thank you.

Episode 4: Changes

Cloud stood at the batter's box with his intense gaze focusing on the pitcher of the opposing team. There was a sense of calm to this moment, though around him the crowd cheered and screamed in pure jubilation at the pressure situation that had come; the bases were full and it was the bottom of the 9th with two outs already made. They were down by two and it was all up to Cloud to win this game for his team, like always. It must have been expected that he would as well, no wonder the crowd was already cheering for victory.

After taking in a deep breath, Cloud set his feet apart, balanced his weight, and completed his batting stance with textbook accuracy. Nothing looked flawed, his physical stature and intensity could not be criticized, not one bit. He looked ready and so when the pitcher released his pitch, it came and Cloud swung. Cloud missed.

"STRIKE ONE!" The umpire called out with a collective gasp accompanying it. The crowd had nearly had a heart attack it seemed...they were also quieter than before. However the opposing pitcher dance on the mound happy that he got the pitch by the star baseball player. Cloud, on the other hand, stood in shock at how he missed the pitch…it was perfect for him to hit and yet he missed. A loud groan came from him in frustration before he took the fat part of the bat and tapped himself in the head with it. "Come on!" he said as he stepped back into the box getting back into his textbook stance.

Now he was focused apparently, his eyes, body and stance had no flaw yet his mind wasn't there. His mind was jumping to and fro thinking about something that had nothing to do with this game.

"STRIKE TWO" The umpire shouted as Cloud stood perfectly still in his stance. He hadn't moved. Suddenly the crowd began to stir with a bit of anxiety; they could possibly lose this game with Cloud at the plate. It was frightening maybe Cloud had lost the magical touch that he had in these circumstances…in all circumstances that surrounded his ability to play baseball. It was the end of the world, pigs were flying, and hell had froze over; Cloud was not to be the hero tonight.

"STRIKE THREE…BALL GAMES OVER IFRITS WIN!" The ump shouted and unlike the others, he kept his professional cool although he very well knew that this was an odd occurrence. The opposing team gathered at the mound and tossed their lucky pitcher up into the air before catching him in pure jubilation. Cloud, the rest of his team, and the home crowd 

were in shock. While everyone else moved and went to their cars or to the dugout, Cloud just collapsed onto to his knees with anger slowly building in his mind.

Meanwhile, in Cloud's dorm, Vincent and Tifa sat in the common living room watching old highly stylized horror flicks together. On screen there was a gaunt and pale looking man wearing all black chasing after a beautiful dame. That man was of course a vampire and that woman was of course, was confused and distraught. It was the normal type of media anyone could have expected from back then.

"She looks so…helpless." Tifa groaned unenthusiastically.

"That's how men like it." Vincent joked with the both of them erupting in a short laughter.

"It all looks so cheesy…I mean, you can tell his fangs are fake." She pointed at the screen as the vampire reared up with his fangs bearing proudly.

"I dunno there's a rumor going around saying that I'm a vampire at school." Vincent mused as he stroked his chin at that thought. He then looked at Tifa, who was looking at him, and smiled widely to show his canines. "See."

"No…Vincent, yours look pretty normal…so no." Tifa shot him down and Vincent dropped his head slightly before looking back at the Tifa. "It's ok" He added, "Blood taste like rust anyway."

They sat in silence as their attention dwelled back into the movie for a few moments. It was interesting again, the girl had been bitten and she was changing into a creature of the dead…the fake fangs, and claymation transformation, the cheesiness. Suddenly though, the door swung open violently and Cloud stormed in with his baseball gear as he went right into the bedroom. He didn't even bother to stop and acknowledge their existence until Vincent said something, a question he already knew the answer to, "Cloud, how was the game?"

"A failure…I fucked up." Cloud announced angrily.

"You…fucked up? Wow, that's a bit of a shocker." Vincent responded as he folded his arms across his chest; he knew Cloud was on the verge of losing it.

"I know…but I had someone on my mind. I couldn't get her voice out of my head." He admitted.

Vincent tilted his head to the side a bit shocked about the mentioning of a woman. He actually kinda thought it was Rikku for a moment then he thought about it a bit more; it was 

Tifa. Looking at her as she watched him with a perplexed look on her face, he smiled broadly and said, "You may have done something to my dear roommate over there."

"What?" She uttered loudly. "What do you mean?"

Cloud walked out of the bedroom into the main room where they were at the sound of the voice that had been in his head for most of the day. His intense blue eyes looked as if they glowed in the dimly lit room and they were locked on Tifa. "It was you."

"…Wait…" Tifa stood from the couch and looked at the two them; the vampire movie in the background played its ambient sounds before a dreadful scream from the TV broke the silence. "What the heck is going on?!" Tifa shouted as well; they were both acting odd…kinda like a scary movie almost.

Vincent turned off the TV with the remote then leaned back in the chair looking away from the two of them. Cloud never looked away from Tifa during this. His mind had to fight off the various thoughts and emotions colliding with each other. It was insanity…the feelings of anger and infatuation utterly drove him to the point of near madness. "Damnit!" He muttered. "You are Tifa right?"

"Yeah…" She replied still confused about everything happening here.

"…There is something about you that's messing with me." Cloud folded his arm across his chest and covered his mouth with the other as he thought about it. Then, after a moment, his eyes widened and his brows rose, "I know what it is," his hand dropped from his mouth. "Did you ever live in Nibelheim before?"

"…yes." Tifa felt something kick into her mind, an old memory of an old youth she knew in time. Cloud looked like him.

"Do you remember me?" Cloud said coolly, though he was anxious for an answer.

"I.." She walked up closer to him then stopped, "Go stand in the light"

Vincent stood up once she said that and turned on the ceiling fan's light above them to light the room. Cloud's face was no longer hidden in shadow and because of that Tifa gasped. "Holy crap! You are that kid!"

He half smiled at her response to—it was kinda offensive but he didn't dwell on that; he knew he'd probably act similarly if he was in her situation. "Yeah, I am."



Tifa shook her head then looked toward the floor for a moment to regain her normal cool composure. "Ehm, well, I'm sorry I reacted in such a way…" Her eyes rose to look at him all grown up now and thought 'He really really grew up'. "It's been a long time…"

"I'm not that short and chubby anymore."

"No, not at all…"

"I'd like to thank you, Tifa. Thank you for always standing up for me when were little kids...well or, you know, making me seem a little bit more normal than most the others thought." He smiled at her after those words she returned the smile.

As they stood there staring at each other, Vincent watched them with a big grin. "…Well…I think I'll go for a walk?"

Tifa looked back at him and nodded, "I'll come with you."

The expression on Vincent's face changed to one of confusion as he watched. She was a confusing girl at times. "You too Cloud?"

"No, I need time to relax…" He finally looked away from Tifa to Vincent; his smile gone along with that glint in his eye from earlier. It looked as if he'd been let down by her.

When they were outside and a good mile away from the dormitory Tifa finally spoke, "Wow…"

"Wow?"

"Yes, wow…I probably looked like an idiot then."

"No, you looked happy."

"…Vincent…you should have told me."

"What? How was I suppose to know you two knew each other?"

"I don't know, you are a vampire, don't you have telekinesis or something?" Tifa sighed after that remark.

"I'm not a vampire…" Vincent folded his arms across his chest. "Look…he likes you."

"He's liked me since we were little…I just thought of him as being a sweetheart but I didn't think I'd find him attractive. I was a bit shallow and shy when it came to those things as a kid…I was kinda popular you know." She placed her hands on the black beanie she wore and pulled it down over her face in embarrassment.



"Then you moved and didn't have many friends as you got older?"

"Pretty much."

Vincent watched her for a moment then looked around, "Break is coming up soon, I'm gonna set something up with you and him…maybe a road trip and sail to Costa Del Sol?"

"Nooo…not there…all the posh kids will be there." Tifa lowered her head…it was still covered by the beanie.

"Fine fine, road trip from Juno, which automatically lands in Costa Del Sol, then after just one day there, we will drive to Gold Saucer. How does that sound?" He knew this was a good idea, she'd told him before how she missed Gold Saucer.

Tifa's head perked up and slowly, she pulled the beanie up. When she looked at Vincent, she wore a smile that was so very genuine, a smile that made Vincent feel great about his idea; it was easy to tell that she agreed.

* * *

"What!" Cloud shouted in objection toward Vincent's idea. "Look, I'm not up for that you know…I have too much on my plate right now!"

"You don't…you are lying. All you are going to be doing is sitting your ass in this dorm, complaining about how much life sucks to yourself. You need to get out some." Vincent replied.

"I get out enough!"

"You use to when you had your bike but you went ALONE. I'm talking about with people! Socialize a bit! It's not that hard…I don't like doing it but it has to be done to stay sane." He was angry at Cloud, and it was quite frightening to see him like that for Cloud.

"Fuck it…I'll go."

* * *

When the day came, Vincent had managed to pick get an old truck from his friend, it was large enough to carry the luggage and serve as an extra seat or two for the guys to ride in the back. Tifa was already sitting in the back of the truck with Rikku and Cloud was in the passenger seat. He and Tifa hadn't said anything to each other the entire moment they were there and it was annoying Vincent.

"We have everything..so let's go." With that, Vincent started the engine and they were off on the road. The weeklong trip was to begin and Cloud was in one of his moods.

* * *

**Episode 5**: Highway Drive

Cloud and Tifa know about each other's past but they aren't sure of how to act on it. The circumstances have happened so fast that their head is spinning but, the fun still has to go on, it's a road trip after all.

A/n: sorry it took so long to update, the school year is almost over so i had time to write a chapter. Hopefully i can keep them coming out more frequently now.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the rights to any of the Final Fantasy VII characters or any Final Fantasy characters in general. Square Enix and VII's creators Yoshinoti Kitase, Tetsuya Nomura, Hironobu Sakaguchi do, thank you.

* * *

Footnotes/ References: Asobi Seksu's song mentioned in this chapter can be listened to here:

Strawberries: /watch?vvL20bIz1lI

* * *

**Episode 5**: Highway Drive

There was silence within the first hour of driving between Vincent and Cloud who both sat in the front. Cloud kept his head turned toward the window; his face and eyes showed disinterest. Vincent focused on the road as they drove through the beautiful grasslands that lead to the chocobo farm and marsh. It was an settling atmosphere as those two young men mulled over what they were doing there. One of them knew that this road trip would be a good way to relax for the break, the other thought this idea was useless.

"What are you going to do when we get to the ferry?" Vincent asked and continued to say, "I hear they have a pretty nice casino…it's no Gold Saucer but it'll be a nice ride."

"It's a ferry…it'll probably be quite the crappy ride." Cloud responded coldly.

"Maybe…but you could at least try to make this trip slightly enjoyable."

"Who says I'm not enjoying this?" Cloud leaned back into the seat and looked toward the dashboard going into another thought-filled gaze.

Meanwhile, in the back of the truck, Tifa and Rikku were having a completely different type of conversation.

"So you know him?" Rikku's voice was curious and searching for answer.

"Yea…we grew up together, sort of." She closed her eyes as she sighed slowly.

"Sort of? Come on…explain. Please." Rikku egged her on with a slight nudge on the shoulder.

"He was the neighborhood chubby kid that the everyone picked on…everyone except for me." She shrugged slightly and thought about it for a moment. "He might hold a grudge against me still for letting it happen as much as it did."

A grin slipped onto Rikku's lips as she watched Tifa's body language; she looked a little disappointed in Cloud's disinterest. Then again, Rikku thought it was appropriate for her to be a bit upset too. Vincent had set this up for the two of them after all.

"You like him…"

"Who?"

"Cloud…you like him."

"I think it's too early for that Rikku…he's cute, yes. However, that doesn't mean I like him." Her answer was straight forward but it still lacked the detail Rikku was looking for.

"I guess that's ok…he doesn't seem too interested, maybe he's gay."

"…maybe."

They arrived at the Chocobo farm about an hour later, there Rikku and Tifa insisted that they'd stop to see if there was some kind of farmers market set up. The two of them were lead by a younger girl named Chloe into the farmer's house. Cloud and Vincent stood near the stable that contained the recently captured Chocobos. The older farmer was on the inside of the stable trimming one of the Chocobo's claws; when he noticed the two city boys watching him, he stood and approached them. "Hey, ya'll want to ride one?" He shouted happily.

Vincent stared blankly at the farmer to show his disinterest, Cloud on the other hand was already trying to get way. "He likes riding motorcycles…maybe a Chocobo will do him some good." Vincent said grabbing Cloud by his collar.

Within a few moments, Cloud was shaking on top of the large yellow bird. The farmer then let go and the bird was off shouting "CHOCO!" with Cloud occasionally letting out a yelp once it made a sharp turn or hop. "F—fuck you Viiiiinceeeeent!" He said at the sound of hearing Vincent's laughter.

When the girls came out of the farm, they carried a few bags of fruit with them. Vincent and Cloud were sitting on the back of the truck watching them. "Rikku has shotgun…" Vincent told Cloud as he stood from the back to walk to the driver's seat. "Hey Rikku, come get shotgun!"

Cloud didn't complain as Tifa walked by him to place the bags into the truck; he even helped her do it. Once the truck began off again, they sat in the back across from each other. Tifa hugged her legs against her chest and Cloud sat with his folded with his arms folded across his chest. They wouldn't say anything for the first ten minutes of the drive until Tifa began to get annoyed with the silence. So, to deal with that, she pulled out the stereo system she had in one of her bags. When she set it up she put in a favorite CD of hers, Asobi Seksu's Citrus. After skipping the first song since it was only 17 seconds of random ambient noise, it settled on the second song, "Strawberries". After the guitar rang for a few seconds, the drums came in with a shuffle rhythm then came in the soft high pitched voice of a female Japanese voice. The music was happy, spacey, ambient, and free and Tifa closed her eyes and rocked her head slowly to the beat. Cloud was watching.

There was something special about this girl and he couldn't exactly put his finger on it. She was mind boggling to him in way that was both good and bad. Cloud was use to girls he could get an easy read on but Tifa, Tifa seemed to be from a whole other galaxy.

He shook his head to snap out of the trance the music had pulled him into and to look away from the girl that gave him fits as well. Then as he stared out into the mountains that surrounded them the music once again pulled him into a trance, his mind had gone blank from most the things in his life. He was 

daydreaming and in front of him stood Tifa and the younger version of himself that day he found out that she was leaving.

They were dressed in their tiny clothes then…Cloud in his overalls and Tifa in her turquoise summer dress…and they were both very shy. They had hidden themselves behind the truck of one of their neighbors since Tifa didn't want to be seen in public with Cloud alone.

"I want to give you something Cloud." He remembered her saying in her soft and kind voice. Her hands were clasped over the item like a clam holding onto its dear pearl…a clam that was holding onto something for that special lucky person to find.

"What is it?" He asked in his small shy voice.

"I know you like this kind of stuff…hehe…so I'm going to give you the pendant my sensei gave to me. He said that I should pass it on to someone who'd cherish it…and I think it'll give you something to remember me by. You may have been the only real friend I had here…at least that's what my mom use to say." After those words, her hands opened to reveal the Fenrir pendant and necklace in her hands.

Cloud came to again to look to where Tifa was, she was leaning over the truck as if something caught her eye. "Tifa?"

The music still blasted loudly now playing the song "Strings" from the Citrus album and suddenly she stood on the back of the truck with her feet spread apart to keep her balance. "Tifa…what are you doing?" Cloud asked with a bit more vigor this time but she still ignored him. So, Cloud reached out to tap her leg and once he was an inch away, the marsh lands sprayed water into the air as something seemed to burst from the land. Cloud jumped back at sight of it, it was a giant green snake. "…Tifa! Get out of the way I'll handle it…Tifa!"

Immediately as he said that and the climatic melody of the song came on, the snake began its strike and Tifa jumped into the air. Her feet cut through the air like a knife and sliced the snake in the face with each blow. The beast croaked and fell back into the marsh before slivering away again in fear of her powerful blows.

Cloud watched her as she watched the snake briefly before returning to her seat across from him. "What was that?"

"Something I learned back in our home…" A smile was on her face since she enjoyed having the chance to do that again and Cloud was watching; it was obvious he was impressed too.

"Back home…"

"Yea, back home."

"I missed you all those years." He admitted. The words kinda blurted out of him too.

"…" Tifa didn't even know what to say either. Her eyes were wide now and the butterflies those words gave her still fluttered in her stomach.

Cloud looked down at his chest then reached to pull out the necklace he wore from under his shirt. It was the Fenrir pendant she had given him years ago. "I wanted to thank you for this and yes, I held onto it too. I thought it would be good luck since the girl who gave it to me was so good to me."

"Cloud…" She whispered faintly. "Thank you, thank you so much."

He crawled over to her side of the truck and sat next to her. Initially, they didn't touch or show anything other than the awkwardness the two very awkward people had with one another. Finally, after a good minute, Tifa leaned her head on Cloud's shoulder. Her actions caused the both of them to relax and enjoy each other's company.

Of course, in the front part of the truck in the cab, Rikku was giving Vincent all the details of what was going on. "…I think they may be kissing." Rikku said as she maneuvered her head to look at them in the rearview mirror. "I can't see!!"

Vincent would occasionally glance at the mirror but he'd look away to keep his eyes on the road. "How much do I owe you?"

"Ten bucks…I told you they would."

"Fine Fine, when we get on the boat I'll pay you."

"Hahaha, sucker."

* * *

**Episode 6**: Sea and Sun

A/N: I think this chapter is a bit short but I wanted to get this portion out quickly. Next one should be much longer. Enjoy and of course read and review.

* * *


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